Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 LAKELAND, Fla.- The Ave Maria University tennis teams began play for the 2021 spring semester on Saturday, competing in the Youth Tennis Foundation Tournament in Lakeland. The weekend for the Gyrenes was marked by a sweep of the top women's draws by AMU's Lara Teodoro, who won the singles championship in the Black draw, the top flight of the event, and teamed with Julia Candiotto to win the doubles championship.

In singles action, Teodoro rolled through the bracket, losing just one set along the way. In fact, her only lost set came in her first match. In the championship match, Teodoro, the 24th ranked NAIA player in the nation, won the first set in a 7-6 tiebreaker, then cruised to a 6-2 win in the second set over St. Thomas' Lia Pena. 

Similarly, Teodoro and Candiotto showed why they are the No. 11 doubles team in the nation by dominating the doubles draw. The Brazilian duo did not surrender more than four points in a single match, winning their matches by scores of 8-1, 8-3, 8-3, and 8-4 in the championship match against the team of Pena and Annie Carrera from St. Thomas.

The Gyrenes also got solid performances from Aethielle Kelkboom and Katie Fuller. Kelkboom won back-to-back matches in the back draw of the Black bracket, defeating Isabelle Niehoff of Webber before winning the back draw with a three-set victory over Priscilla Baptista from Southeastern. Fuller won three straight matches in the back draw of her flight, including a 4-0, 4-1 win over Warner's Danieris Santiago in the final round.

On the men's side, the top performance came from the doubles team of Nicholas Hofmeister and Luca Cirenza. The duo won their first three matches in the doubles bracket, advancing to the championship match before falling in three sets to St. Thomas' team of Antoine Gbadoe and Alessandro Tabares. 

Hofmeister also won three straight singles matches in the back draw, defeating two Southeastern players and another from Warner. Cirenza, along with Carlos Thireau, was one of two Gyrenes to advance to the quarterfinals of the tournament's top singles flight.

Elsewhere on the men's side of the tournament, Graham Gibbs won three consecutive matches in the back draw of his flight, earning his first three wins as a Gyrene. In the final match of the bracket, he won an epic match against teammate Alexander Nunez, 0-4, 4-2, 15-13. Also in singles action, Alejandro Viedma won two singles matches before falling to Southeastern's Timothy Nacca.

Ave Maria's regular season begins on Saturday afternoon, as the Gyrenes host the Bobcats of St. Thomas University. Both the men's and women's teams are scheduled to start at 1 p.m. at the AMU Tennis Complex.